3 ms·

No, not really. The top 1% pay nearly half the income taxes.

• JoeAltmaier 9y ago
  (...and take in 99% of the income. Why not 99% of the income tax? Clearly at 50%, the system is massively out of balance in their favor.)
  • harryh 9y ago
    That is incorrect. The top 1% earn about 20% of the income in the US. They pay about 40% of the income taxes (I went and looked this up after your comment. "Nearly half" was perhaps slightly overstating the case). Given that we have a progressive tax system it makes intuitive sense that the higher percentiles (1%, 5%, 10%, whatever) will always pay a greater percentage of total income tax than they make in total income.
    • JoeAltmaier 9y ago
      Ah! I was wrong; I was thinking 'net worth' not income. And the net worth of the top 1% is around 35% of the total national wealth. (Which is curiously close to the income tax number of 40%)
      • harryh 9y ago
        Ah, yes. Stock vs flow! I noticed that curiosity as well. Not sure it means anything in particular but it was interesting.